Analysis of Village Don Juan
Robert William Service 1874 – 1958
Lord, I'm grey, my face is run,
But by old Harry, I've had my fun;
And all about, I seem to see
Lads and lassies that look like me;
Ice-blue eyes on every hand,
Handsomest youngsters in the land.
"Old Stud Horse" they say of me,
But back of my beard I laugh with glee.
Far and wide have I sown my seed,
Yet by the gods I've improved the breed:
From byre and stable to joiner's bench,
From landlord's daughter to serving wench.
Ice-blue eyes and blade-straight nose,
Stamp of my virile youth are those;
Now you'll see them on every side,
Proof of my powers, far and wide:
Even the parson' handsome scamp,
And the Doctor's daughter have my stamp.
Many a matron cocks an eye
Of secret knowledge as I pass by;
As for the hubbies, what they don't know
Will never hurt them, so let them go:
The offspring most they seem to prize
Have blade-straight noses and ice-blue byes.
Yet oh, I have a haunting dread
Brother and sister lust the bed;
The Parson's and the Doctor's lass,
Yestreen in the moon I saw them pass;
The thought of them wed is like a knife. . . .
Brother and sister - man and wife.
Scheme | AABBCC BBDDEE FFGGHH IIJJXB KKLLMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1111111 111101111 01011111 1011111 11111001 110001 1111111 111111111 10111111 110110101 11010111 11101101 1110111 11110111 111111001 11110101 10010101 001010111 10010111 110101111 11011111 110111111 0111111 111100111 11110101 10010101 0100101 10011111 011111101 10010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,067 |
Words | 209 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 30 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 165 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 42 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:05 min read
- 74 Views
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"Village Don Juan" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/32732/village-don-juan>.
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